Method and apparatus for optimising telecommunication services

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9674289-B2
Application number	US-201314783275-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	May 9, 2013
Priority date	Apr 17, 2013
Publication date	Jun 6, 2017
Grant date	Jun 6, 2017

Abstract

A method of optimizing telecommunication services for a plurality of end users of a plurality of service sessions, each service session having a priority level, the method comprising the steps of: receiving compliance measure indicating that the service experience of at least one end user is compliant, for a snapshot, with expectations of the at least one end user within a telecommunication service providing a plurality of service sessions to a plurality of end users; determining if the received compliance measure is less than a predetermined threshold; and if the received compliance measure is determined to be less than a predetermined threshold, throttling at least one of the plurality of service sessions, that has not been throttled and has the lowest priority level, to optimize telecommunication services.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A method of optimising telecommunication services for a plurality of end users of a plurality of service sessions, each service session having a priority level, the method comprising the steps of:
receiving compliance measure indicating that a service experience of at least one end user is compliant, for a snapshot, with expectations of the at least one end user within a telecommunication service providing a plurality of service sessions to a plurality of end users;
determining if the received compliance measure is less than a predetermined threshold; and
if the received compliance measure is determined to be less than the predetermined threshold, throttling at least one of the plurality of service sessions, that has not been throttled and has a lowest priority level, to optimise telecommunication services.

2. A method according to claim 1 , wherein the step of determining if the received compliance measure is less than a predetermined threshold comprises
determining if the received compliance measure is less than a received compliance measure of at least one previous snapshot.

3. A method according to claim 1 , wherein the method further comprises at least one of:
creating a semantic model of a plurality of concepts in an end user communication service domain, and analysing a service defined by the created semantic model for the snapshot to determine the compliance measure; and
maintaining a store of the determined compliance measure for each snapshot.

4. A method according to claim 1 , wherein the step of determining if the received compliance measure is less than the predetermined threshold comprises:
determining if the received compliance measure is less than the predetermined threshold for the compliance measure received for a plurality of snapshots of a first predetermined lookback interval.

5. A method according to claim 1 , wherein
if the received compliance measure is not determined to be less than the predetermined threshold, releasing throttle of at least one of the service sessions that has been throttled and has a highest priority level, and wherein the step of determining comprises determining if the received compliance measure is not less than a compliance measure received for a plurality of snapshots of a second predetermined lookback interval.

6. A method according to claim 1 , wherein the method further comprises:
determining if at least one service session has been terminated; and
if it is determined to have been terminated and throttled, releasing the throttle on the terminated service session, and wherein the step of determining if the at least one service session has been terminated comprises determining if the at least one service session has been terminated and throttled within a third predetermined lookback interval.

7. A method according to claim 6 , wherein the steps of throttling, releasing throttles and releasing throttles of terminated service sessions are carried out in a sequential manner, and/or wherein the steps of throttling, releasing throttles and releasing throttles of terminated service sessions are carried out periodically.

8. A method according to claim 1 , wherein the telecommunication services are provided in a cellular telecommunication network and the method optimises the telecommunication service to a plurality of end users in a plurality of service sessions within a cell, and wherein a plurality of cells of the cellular telecommunication network is divided into a plurality of cells of a region of the cellular telecommunication network, and wherein the method is performed for each region using separate parallel, processing threads.

9. Apparatus for optimising telecommunication services for a plurality of end users of a plurality of service sessions, each service session having a priority level, the apparatus comprising:
a processor; and
a memory storing instructions thereon, which when executed by the processor cause the apparatus to:
receive a compliance measure indicating that service experience of at least one end user is compliant, for a snapshot, with expectations of the at least one end user within a telecommunication service providing a plurality of service sessions to a plurality of end users,
determine if the received compliance measure is less than a predetermined threshold, and
throttle at least one of the plurality of service sessions, that has not been throttled and has a lowest priority level, if the received compliance measure is determined to be less than the predetermined threshold, to optimise telecommunication services.

10. The apparatus according to claim 9 , wherein the memory further stores instructions, which when executed by the processor, cause the apparatus to store the received compliance measure for each snapshot and to determine if the received compliance measure is less than a received compliance measure of at least one previous snapshot.

11. The apparatus according to claim 9 , wherein the memory further stores instructions, which when executed by the processor, cause the apparatus to release throttle of at least one of throttled service sessions, that has been throttled and has a highest priority level, if the received compliance measure is not determined to be less than a predetermined threshold, and/or to release the throttle on a throttled service session that have been terminated.

12. The apparatus according to claim 9 , wherein the telecommunication services are provided in a cellular telecommunication network and the apparatus is operative to optimise the telecommunication service to a plurality of end users of a plurality of service sessions within a cell and wherein a plurality of cells of the cellular telecommunication network are divided into a plurality of cells of a region of the cellular telecommunication network and wherein the processor comprises parallel, processing modules operative to concurrently optimise the telecommunication service to a plurality of end users for each region.

13. A radio controller for controlling a telecommunications network, the radio controller comprising:
an apparatus for optimising telecommunication services for a plurality of end users of a plurality of service sessions, each service session having a priority level, the apparatus including:
a processor, and
a memory storing instructions thereon, which when executed by the processor cause the apparatus to:
receive a compliance measure indicating that service experience of at least one end user is compliant, for a snapshot, with expectations of the at least one end user within a telecommunication service providing a plurality of service sessions to a plurality of end users,
determine if the received compliance measure is less than a predetermined threshold, and
throttle at least one of the plurality of service sessions, that has not been throttled and has the lowest priority level, if the received compliance measure is determined to be less than the predetermined threshold, to optimise telecommunication services.

14. A telecommunications network including a plurality of nodes for providing a plurality of services sessions for a plurality of end users, the network comprising:
a first processor;
a first memory storing instructions thereon, which when executed by the first processor cause the telecommunications network to:
receive measurements of at least one performance parameter of at least one service session for analysis of the received measurements and determine a compliance measure of service experience of at least one end user, within a telecommunication service providing the plurality of service sessions to the

Assignees

• Ericsson Telefon Ab L M

Inventors

• Fallon Liam

Classifications

• H04L47/2425

  for supporting services specification, e.g. SLA · CPC title

• H04L43/0876

  Network utilisation, e.g. volume of load or congestion level · CPC title

• H04L47/2408

  for supporting different services, e.g. a differentiated services [DiffServ] type of service · CPC title

• H04L47/25

  with rate being modified by the source upon detecting a change of network conditions · CPC title

• H04M3/4217

  Managing service interactions · CPC title